IGNATIUS
PATRIARCH OF THE HOLY SEE OF ANTIOCH AND ALL THE EAST SUPREME HEAD
OF THE UNIVERSAL SYRIAC ORTHODOX CHURCH

ZAKKA I,
IWAS

We offer apostolic
benediction and benevolent prayers, to our brethren, His Beatitude
Mor Baselius Thomas I, Catholicos of India, and their Eminences the
Metropolitans, our spiritual children the venerable priests, monks,
nuns, deacons and deaconess, and our blessed Syriac Orthodox people
worldwide. May the divine providence embrace them through the
intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and St. Peter, the
head of the apostles, and the rest of the Martyrs and Saints.

Amen

Meekness and Humbleness

The Lord Jesus said,
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My
yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Mathew 11:28 – 30)

Dear faithful

Humbleness and meekness are
two heavenly and esteemed virtues. Each one completes the other. In
our humbleness we glorify God and we confess His abundant blessings
upon us for He is our creator and care taker. We should always
continue to give thanks to Him, acknowledging our weakness and
asking for His mercy. All heavenly and earthly gifts that we enjoy
in life are free handouts from Him. And accordingly, we have no
right to boast but rather admit His grace and avoid arrogance that
takes us away from Him and blocks our senses from hearing His words,
and leads us to self adoration and atheism. We must let humility
fill our minds and hearts with the light of Christ who will
enlighten them with faith and dependency upon God and confessing the
fact of faith inspired by God Almighty in His Holy Bible. This is
how we glorify His holy name by reciting with the author of Psalms,
saying, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. But to Your name give
glory.” (Psalm 115: 1)

Therefore, the virtue of
humility is the base of all Christian values and its ultimate stage.
And meekness is its ripe fruit and companion in the spiritual
struggle. When humility is fixed firmly in the heart and mind of a
person, it becomes a belonging to his soul. People around him would
feel it in his behavior because he owns meekness and he is able
through this spiritual courage to fight the accursed devil and
overcome hard temptations through God giving him the necessary power
to control himself from aggression and to be far away from hatred
and malice. He would abide by the Lord’s saying, “But I tell you not
to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek,
turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away
your tunic, let him have your cloak also.” (Mathew 5:39&40) And
also, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to
those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and
persecute you.” (Mathew 5:44). In this way only, meekness becomes a
second nature where we treat people with love and kindness, and we
would be likened to Christ who commanded us to learn from Him for He
is meek and lowly in heart. These two virtues - meekness and
humbleness - were clearly shown in His behavior during His holy
mission in the flesh. He loved children and they loved Him back. He
sympathized with women and felt pity on sinners and wanted to put
them on the path of repentance . He also forgave His enemies and
haters. He taught us these two virtues in words and deeds. And if we
abide by Him and follow His trace, we will be in peace with the Lord
and we shall surrender to His godly will in good times and in bad
times. And we will find solace with ourselves and obtain peace of
mind and conscience, by loving God who loved us, by keeping His
commandments and refraining from His prohibitions and by keeping His
church’s obligations, and by being in peace with our neighbor,
forgiving his shortcomings, loving him and praying for him according
to the commandment of St. Paul to his disciple Timothy, “In humility
correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant
them repentance, so that they may know the truth.” (2 Tim. 2:25)

Through His meekness and
humbleness, the Lord Jesus corrected the world’s understanding of
the heavenly values and refined morals. Meekness which was
considered weakness before the birth of Jesus, became a strong
spiritual power in Christianity. And humility which was considered
lowliness in the past, became highly esteemed and a sign of a clear
victory over the accursed devil and his followers. It became a
condemnation to their pride which led them to the abyss and became
the enemies of God and humankind. Pride also was committed by human
who rebelled against God, the Creator, and was penalized by death.
So in order to save man from sin and return him to life, He treated
him with humbleness and commanded him to be meek by saying to His
disciples, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Mathew 10:16)

Yes indeed, the disciples
realized the greatness of their heavenly Teacher. And they
recognized their own feeble selves and their constant need to their
Lord. Jesus did explain to them this fact by saying, “Abide in Me,
and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it
abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the
vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, bears
much fruit; for without me you can do nothing,” (John 15: 4&5)

My beloved

In this difficult time, our
church is facing a hard period which is a decisive and dangerous
turn in its recent history. The chaotic immigration scatters our
people in the dimmer paths of the world taking them away from their
historical roots and spiritual values that they inherited from their
forefathers. Besides, being targeted by the enemies of truth, trying
to catch them in their wicked webs in their old and new homeland.
There are the old heretics and the new organizations that claim
Christianity while Christianity disowns them. Their followers came
like wolves clothed like sheep desiring to prey on the flock of
Christ. There is pride, the origin of all sins, that caused some
seculars to come up with futile ideas, trying to control the church
and violate its organizational structure which was divinely, not
humanly, set. The church is a spiritual institution and it is the
Sacramental body of the Lord who is the head. He delegated His
disciples to serve the faithful. He gave them authority to
administer and manage its affaires and to take care of its members.
They are its legitimate representatives and the protectors of its
religious doctrine, name, culture, language, traditions,
civilization, features, and its heavenly characteristics that were
confirmed throughout generations. Christ is in her midst and it will
never shake because He promised, saying, “And the gates of Hade
shall not prevail against it.” (Mathew 16:18) Anyone who opposes her
shall be defeated because her authority is from heaven. So, in the
spirit of meekness and humbleness we advise and urge those who have
gone astray to come into the church’s obedience so that heaven will
have joy in one sinner who repents and we shall welcome them into
the church. But if they insist on fighting the church and spread
chaos among the faithful and turn deaf ears to the real shepherds,
then we shall use our spiritual authority to defend our belief and
our honorable traditions by disciplining those who rebelled against
our church’s laws, according to St. Paul saying, “put away from
yourselves the evil person.” (1Cor. 5:13)

Dearly beloved

The holy occasion of the
Great Lent is a golden opportunity for spiritual effort to follow
the Lord in His humbleness and meekness. And to practice highly
esteemed virtues and let our faith be shown through our works
specially by acts of mercy like charities, helping the poor and
needy, caring for the orphans and widows, beside our love for our
Syriac Orthodox church and its laws, rules and regulations,
language, rituals, and the teachings of its holy fathers.

May God accept your fasting
and your prayers, and make you worthy to celebrate His resurrection
from among the dead, with joy, happiness, and blessings. May His
grace be always with you.

Our Father Who art in
heaven….

Issued at our Patriarchal
house in Damascus, Syria

On the 20th day of January, in the year Two
Thousand and Seven of our Lord